IRVING, Texas -- Government inspectors sorted through the Dallas Cowboys'
flattened practice facility Monday, trying to figure out why fierce winds
sent the tentlike structure crashing during a rookie workout session last
weekend.
The structure's collapse Saturday injured 12 people, including Cowboys
special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, who underwent surgery to stabilize a
fractured vertebrae in his neck Monday. DeCamillis is expected to be
released from the hospital later this week, according to a statement
released by the Cowboys.
Most seriously hurt in the accident was scouting assistant Rich Behm, who
was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed.
He is in stable condition, but remains in an intensive care unit,
according to the team statement.
Assistant athletic trainer Greg Gaither had surgery on his fractured right
leg and, like DeCamillis, is expected to leave the hospital sometime this
week.
Inspectors were at the collapse site, said Elizabeth Todd, a spokeswoman
for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA, which
investigates workplace accidents, has six months to make a report, she
said.
Records obtained by The Associated Press show that the city of Irving
granted a request by the Cowboys to replace the fabric roof last year,
five years after the structure was built. The team listed itself as the
contractor for the roof replacement, but Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple
said the team wouldn't comment about the work.
The records don't show that the Cowboys sought an inspection of the
facility after replacing the roof, although city code requires it,
according to Gary Miller, Irving's director of planning and inspections.
"In a perfect world, there's some report from an installation company or
an engineer in there, but we don't have it," Miller said.
The company that built the facility -- Summit Structures LLC of Allentown,
Pa. -- said in a statement that proper engineering was used during the
original construction and the installation of the new roof. Summit
president Nathan Stobbe said he was in Irving on Monday, working with team
and local officials to "fully assess this severe weather event." The
company said it has few answers now on precisely what happened.
About 70 people, including 27 players attending a rookie minicamp, were
inside when the storm hit. Winds were clocked at 64 mph, 1 mph shy of the
threshold for a weak tornado. A "microburst" might have pushed the wind
beyond 70 mph at the top of the structure, National Weather Service
officials said.
Behm, DeCamillis and Gaither were on the field when the $4 million
structure gave way, sending framework, lights and other debris crashing to
the ground.
Most players at the minicamp were drafted the previous weekend or signed
as undrafted rookies, but none were hurt. No veterans were involved.
Coaches, support staff and media also were in the no-frills building,
which essentially was a 100-yard football field with a few more yards of
clearance all the way around. The roof was 80 feet high.
Media were restricted from the Cowboys headquarters for at least a week
because of "ongoing work that is scheduled to take place in the aftermath
of the accident."
Summit lists on its Web site several other facilities that it built,
including one at Texas A&M and one for the New England Patriots. The
company also said it built the Windstar Casino just across the Texas state
line in Oklahoma.
Stacey James, Patriots' executive director of media relations, said in an
e-mail that the team was "reviewing all aspects of the facility."
Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne said the school has had no problems
with its facility but will review its policy on practicing in bad weather
in light of this collapse.
"Our facility was put to the test this past fall when Hurricane Ike hit
the Texas gulf coast," Byrne said in a statement. "Our buildings withstood
the high winds and our football team was not in the facility at that
time."
At the University of New Mexico, which also has a Summit-built football
practice facility, associate athletic director Scott Dotson said the
collapse hasn't generated significant concerns. Dotson said the school's
facility "has been tested with some strong winds and held up."
A Pennsylvania court ruled in 2006 that Summit was negligent in the design
and construction of a membrane-covered building that collapsed in 2003
after a major snowstorm in Philadelphia. The building was constructed for
the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
City construction records list Manhattan Construction Group as the
contractor for the Cowboys' facility and Summit as the structural
engineer. Manhattan is the general contractor for the new Cowboys stadium
that will open next season in Arlington.
Bob Bowen, Manhattan's executive vice president, said his Oklahoma-based
company helped protect the outdoor practice field from damage during
construction, but all the planning and work was done by Summit.
In a 2003 letter to Irving Fire Chief Paul White, Cowboys director of
football operations Bruce Mays described the planned facility as a "semi-
permanent structure supported by lightweight steel trusses and clad with a
fire resistant polymer fabric."
Mays said preliminary discussions between the team and the city concluded
the building was a "unique type of structure and there could be a variety
of interpretations as to what standards should be applied in evaluating
the structure to comply with building and fire codes."